Marketing Technology for Growth

The Best Branded Content of the Week: December 15, 2012

This week, the best branded content has a little bit of everything. From superheroes to talented dogs, brands are pulling out all the stops to create interesting and innovative content to entice their audiences.

Going for the “awwww” factor, Mini Cooper teamed up with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) to teach three dogs to drive. The dogs were then put to the test in front of a live television audience. SPCA has said that the stunt was part of an initiative to prove that dogs from shelters are not second rate pets. The three new drivers, Monty, Porter, and Ginny were put behind specially outfitted Mini Coopers for their first trips behind the wheel and I can’t help but think that they look very cool. The result is an extremely entertaining (and adorable!) way to bring attention to the car brand.

Early this week, a very mysterious web page appeared calling itself the Deep Space Radio Wave Project. The DSRW Project claimed to be “A private non-profit research organization with a network of world-wide interstellar communication facilities that support the exploration of our solar system and the universe,” but a keen eye spotted the Warner Brothers logo in the footer of the site. The website asked visitors to help unlock various signals and after a series of puzzles, the new movie trailer for Man of Steel was revealed. Though the tactic isn’t exactly new, I still feel that it was an interesting method to get people buzzing about the movie and make the trailer go viral.

In an inventive approach to advertising, a Swedish agency created the world’s largest memory game to promote the Swedish mail service this holiday season. The “game-board” consisted of 400 packages set up in a warehouse in Stockholm and the game was broadcast via the web. Players had the chance to select 2 packages and if they matched, that player won both prizes shipped for free anywhere within Sweden. The mail service is one of those things that is difficult to get people excited about, but I think the Swedish Post was quite successful in this endeavor. I know I would play!

Newcastle knows the truth behind your Instagram photos. Or at least that’s what they would like you to believe. This week, the beer company launched a new Facebook app that uncovers the real meaning behind that Instagram you posted of your brunch. (“I’m at brunch. I hope you wish you were here.”) The app lets you select a clichéd category of Instagram photos, add a subtext caption and then re-share the image with your friends. The quirky campaign paints the brand as humorous and no-nonsense. I definitely suggest playing around with the app simply because it is good branded fun!

I hope you've enjoyed the best branded content of this week! I also hope that these campaigns provide you with some inspiration for different ways to create branded content in the future. If you have a suggestion for another branded content campaign you believe I should cover, please feel free to mention it in the comments!